MUMBAI, June 16: Explosive batsman Virender Sehwag, discarded for the tours of Ireland and England starting later this month, has been downgraded to grade B of the Indian cricket board's central contracts for this season.

Board secretary Niranjan Shah announced on Saturday that grading had been done on the basis of performances in the previous season. The elite players will earn a retainer of Rs5 million ($123,183), the second-rung players Rs3.5 million and grade C cricketers Rs2 million.

Batsman Yuvraj Singh and wicket-keeper Mahendra Dhoni were moved to the elite category while discarded off-spinner Harbhajan Singh and Irfan Pathan moved down to B grade.

Contracted players:

Grade A: Rahul Dravid, Sachin Tendulkar, Saurav Ganguly, Anil Kumble, Yuvraj Singh and Mahendra Dhoni.

Grade B: Vangipurappu Laxman, Harbhajan Singh, Virender Sehwag, Irfan Pathan and Ajit Agarkar.

Grade C: Gautam Gambhir, Wasim Jaffer, Shanthakumaran Sreesanth, Zaheer Khan, Suresh Raina and Munaf Patel.

—Reuters